


Once Upon a Time

by imaginary_golux



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Arthurian, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 11:58:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17898005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: For the February Ficlet Challenge prompt, "Characters ship another pairing in your list."Neville, Ginny, and Luna discuss ways in which Arthurian mythology could be made less tragic.Beta by my Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.





	Once Upon a Time

One of the many things Ginny loves about her girlfriend is how often conversations with Luna go in utterly unexpected directions. Like just now, for instance. Neville is reading the _Morte d’Arthur_ (the unexpurgated _wizarding_ edition, of course), and Luna has just sighed and said, “It really is a pity Arthur didn’t just propose to both of them.”

“...As in, Lancelot _and_ Guinevere?” Neville asks after a moment of bafflement.

“I suppose that would have made things simpler,” Ginny says. “But I don’t think Muggles could do that. I _still_ think they can’t.”

“How silly,” Luna says, braiding another dandelion into Ginny’s hair. Neville already has a full crown of them. “What do they do when people find a perfect triad, then?”

“I don’t know,” Ginny admits - her grasp on Muggle social norms is not great - and Neville shakes his head.

“Another reason to be glad we’re magical, then,” he says. “I mean, maybe Arthur could have pulled it off anyhow - he was the king, and lots of kings in history have had multiple _wives_ , I don’t see why he couldn’t have had a husband too.”

“That would have been a _much_ better story,” Luna says firmly. “And then there wouldn’t have been any trouble defeating Mordred.”

“Then it wouldn’t be a tragedy anymore,” Neville says, closing the _Morte_ and sprawling back so his head is in Ginny’s lap. “Which...might be nice, actually. We’ve had enough tragedies recently.” The school is still scarred from the Battle, and all the Eighth Years, Neville included, wake with nightmares regularly - as do all the students who lived through Voldemort’s brief, horrid reign of terror.

“There we go then,” Luna says, finishing Ginny’s flower crown. “Ginny can be our sensible Arthur, with a wife and a husband both. Would you prefer to be Lancelot or Guinevere?”

Neville blinks up at her. “Well,” he says after a while, “I’ve already got a sword, so I guess I’ll be Lancelot, if you don’t mind being Guinevere.”

“Not at all,” Luna says, and leans her head against Ginny’s shoulder, wrapping an arm around her waist and reaching out to twine the fingers of her other hand with Neville’s. “And we won’t be a tragedy.”

“We will be a love story,” Ginny says firmly. “One of the ones that ends, ‘And they lived happily ever after.’”


End file.
